Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu literally The Land of Tamils or Tamil Country) is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital is Chennai (formerly known as Madras), the largest city. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait on the southeast, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. It also shares maritime border with the country of Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the sixth most populous state in India. The state was ranked sixth among states in India according to the Human Development Index in 2011. It was the second largest state economy in India in 2012. The state has the highest number (10.56 per cent) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (9.97 per cent) in India, compared to the population share of about 6 per cent. In the 2013 Raghuram Rajan panel report, Tamil Nadu was ranked as the third most developed state in India based on a “Multidimensional Development Index”. The region has been the home of the Tamil people since at least 3000 BCE. Its official language is Tamil, which holds a status of being a classical language. Tamil has been in use in inscriptions and literature for over 2,500 years.